is filled with stories of institutions doing just that. You can read about campuses that are choosing to educate prisoners (page 23), to resource first-generation college students (page 39), to help prisoners in Uganda and Rwanda receive due process in their judicial proceedings (page 35), and to give a student formerly imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay an education and a second chance (page 28). These are all instances of the radical, upside-down things that God calls all Christians, including Christian institutions, to pursue. But how can we do more? In addition to places of learning, Christian colleges are also places of community whose members choose to subordinate themselves for the good of the community and its shared values and norms – an unusual concept in our highly individualized society. But in order for them to be truly
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radical, we must ask: Are some members of the community being asked to give up more than others? If so, how can all members of the community be called to practice what Tim Keller refers to as radical self-denial? How can the institution as a whole subordinate itself or do “foolish” things that pay rich dividends in God’s economy? That's the upside-down way of kingdom living to which Christian individuals are called. Perhaps this time of legal challenges can serve as an opportunity for Christian institutions to ensure that they, too, are fulfilling such a call. I am increasingly convinced that it is this unconventional path that our campuses must follow as the legal and legislative environment becomes increasingly less friendly and the public becomes more skeptical. Law professor and scholar John Inazu entitled his recent book defending religious freedom Liberty’s Refuge: The Forgot-
ten Freedom of Assembly. He argues that in the current environment, Christian institutions will depend increasingly on the freedoms of expression, association and assembly. Those cases will inherently center around the mission, identity, and purpose of an institution; those cases will also draw public attention and scrutiny to an institution. Is your institution ready for such scrutiny? The current challenges are providing us with the opportunity to ensure that CCCU institutions are living out the fullness of their Gospel mission and that they have the aroma of Christ. This means following God’s definition for success, not the world’s, because we truly believe that this world is not our home. Shapri D. LoMaglio is the vice president for government & external relations at the CCCU. A native of Tucson, Ariz., LoMaglio is a graduate of Gordon College and of the University of Arizona’s James E. Rogers College of Law.
This book starts the kind of conversation we need to have. —James K.A. Smith Professor of Philosophy at Calvin College, editor of COMMENT magazine
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ADVANCE | FALL 2015
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